Because of the present energy crises and, more particularly, the shortage of gasoline for use in automotive vehicles various devices and apparatus have been heretofore proposed by the prior art for allegedly increasing the mileage which a vehicle will obtain from, for example, a gallon of gasoline.
Such prior art devices have several major disadvantages; that is, for example, such devices: (a) are usually relatively expensive and if even the touted savings in gasoline are realized it would often require many thousands of driving miles in order to recoup the purchase price of such prior art devices; (b) usually require disassembly of engine components and/or engine accessories thereby also incurring additional installation costs which, of course, must also be amortized over additional thousands of driving miles; (c) often require alteration and/or repositioning of engine accessories which, in turn, cause an alteration in the spacing and configuration of, for example, conduits, hoses and linkages which, in turn, may, if not carefully accomplished, result in faulty or unsafe engine operation; and (d) often require the use of a particular fluid or liquid which is sold under a particular label and represented as being a secret mixture of ingredients which provide the results alleged in the advertisements associated with the particular prior art device; this, of course, only adds to the cost of such an alleged fuel-saving device.
It has also been suggested that the use of engine manifold vacuum responsive gauges be employed within the interior of the vehicular passenger compartment so that upon excessive throttle opening the resulting low value of manifold vacuum will cause the gauge indicator needle (or some equivalent structure) to indicate to the vehicle operator that he is operating the vehicle under conditions resulting in an excessive rate of fuel consumption. Such devices prove to be a distraction to the operator and, especially after the novelty thereof wears off, the operator usually no longer pays any attention to it.
None of the prior art devices seem to have recognized that one of the greatest factors in the rate of gasoline consumption by a vehicle is the vehicle operator. That is, without exception if any of the prior art alleged fuel-saving devices did in fact perform in the manner in which they have been represented, the vehicle operator could still nullify such potential gasoline savings through continuing to exercise less than desirable driving habits as, for example, continually requiring maximum engine power output during acceleration, panic type braking and the non-maintaining of a generally stable road speed whenever possible.
It is submitted that, in view of many tests conducted by various independent commercial testing agencies as well as by various independent governmental agencies, the proposed prior art "gas-saving" devices do not, in fact, save any gasoline, and, if after a period of time, a particular vehicle operator has noticed any increase in the mileage obtained per gallon of fuel, such increase is usually traceable to the vehicle operator at least slightly changing his driving habits because he has been made more aware of gasoline consumption merely by the money spent in having such a prior art "gas-saving" device installed on his vehicle.
Accordingly, the invention as herein disclosed and claimed is primarily directed to the solution of the problems of the heretofore proposed prior art devices, as well as other related problems, and to fulfill a need whereby without exorbitant cost, any vehicle, employing an operator-positioned throttle valve, can be provided with means which will intrinsically aid in the reduction of the rate of fuel consumption as well as intrinsically teach the vehicle operator to acquire driving habits conducive to minimization of the rate of fuel consumption.